Big cudly bear hugs to all iOS developers out there

Welcome to my seventh weekly newsletter. It is Wednesday August 04, 2021.

A big shoutout to Kris, my newest backer through Pod.fan. Back me too and get a private feed with early access to my interviews.

These are the curated links from this week's regular episode. My kids, wife and me went on our summer holiday. So this time I have a bit more content to share. Make sure to also scroll down to read the rest of the content of my newsletter. Also this time I grouped the links according to how I presented them in my podcast episode.

Xcode tips

• Automatically Switch to Build Log | dasdom
  Xcode contains some wonderful automations triggered on specific events while working. Learn how you can modify and tweak existing and new behaviours to your liking.
• 4 Xcode shortcuts to get back your screen space | Sarunw
  Apparently Sarun likes to work while on the move. This does take him away from a desktop monitor and forces you to work on the relatively small screen of your MacBook. Out of necessity Sarun looked up what keyboard shortcuts allow him to quickly regain some screen space in Xcode while working.
• The Jump Bar In Xcode | dasdom
  Since we are working on your abilities as an Xcode power user, have a look at the Jump Bar shortcuts presented Dominik Hauser. I am intimately familiar with ⌃6, I just can not work in Xcode without it.

UI development

• Implementing drag & drop for Collection View | Filip Němeček
  Filip wanted to implement drag & drop support on the iPad version of SwitchBuddy. He was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to get the basics working. In Filip's article he explains how he got drag & drop to work on CollectionViews.
• SwiftUI Swipe Actions
  Keith provides some valuable insights in how you can use SwiftUI Swipe Actions. This API is new on iOS 15 and very easy to use. You just need to know it exists.

Unit Testing

• Unit testing: the pragmatic guide on where to start | Marina Gornostaeva
  If you are unfamiliar with unit testing or you want to brush up on what's up with unit testing lately, have a look at Marina's article. It is a solid write-up with lots of links to even more information and resources.

Async/await/actors

• Async await in Swift explained with code examples - SwiftLee
  If learning by example is your way of learning, open up this article by Antoine. It is yet another solid article he wrote. Good information, good pace, good examples. At the end of Antoine's article you a lot more about what's up with async/await. Ready for the next article in my list.
• Modern Concurrency in Swift: Introduction • Andy Ibanez
  Once you have read Antoine's article, get ready to dive deep with the suite of articles written by Andy. This link is just the starting point towards 7 (soon 8) articles almost everything you need to know about modern concurrency in Swift.
• Cooperative Task Cancellation - SwiftUI Concurrency Essentials
  Task cancellation is one of those things you want to have heard about. Just in case you need it at some point. So read up on Peter Friese's article and remember what you learned when you need it.
• Swift actors tutorial - a beginner's guide to thread safe concurrency - The.Swift.Dev.
  To wrap up the overload in concurrency programming this week I just had to include this article by Tibor. It was just too good to pass up on. Enjoy this and all the other great stuff Tibor writes.

Deep stuff

• Copy-On-Assignment vs. Copy-On-Write in Swift | by Ayman Fayez | Jul, 2021 | Medium
  I notice on very specific thing when I take a vacation. I got some spare time on my hands and that allows me to dive into some of the deeper stuff. This article by Ayman Fayez is a great reminder of the concepts of Copy-On-Assign and Copy-On-Write behaviour that will make you think a lot less about memory when dealing with pass by value semantics in Swift.
• Fixing a hard-to-find bug in Dark Mode · Jesse Squires
  Jesse had bug, let him tell you about it. Solid read and some great insights into what can go into a proper bug hunt.
• How to Fix Mach-O Header Code 0x72613c21 When You Try to Export Your App in Xcode • Christian Tietze
  I ran into this issue myself. When such a code appears most of us, including myself respond with something like "Say what?". Turns our it has to do with embedding a static lib into a framework. I can go into details, but I would just be repeating what Christian wrote.

If you are wondering about why I want to send out big cudly bear hugs to you, it has to do because I had plenty in the last two weeks. We went to a kid friendly family resort. And the mascot there is called Bollo the bear. And boy does he (she actually) loves to give out big hugs. So have some too.

I'm thinking more and more about my Lead Developer workshop. I have a basic outline ready and some of the content and exercises ready as well. So it really feels like the home stretch. And I still have an entire month left. I could use a few more sign-ups though, so have a look and see if my Lead developer workshop would be a fit for you too.

Now let's talk about one of the drawbacks of taking a vacation. I had plenty of time to relax and just enjoy my family. But I also have time to look into weird stuff. Stuff like mechanical keyboards. You might remember me mentioning an IQunix L80 keyboard. But now I think I went a bit crazy in this area. I've backed the, now finished, KeyboardIO model 100 kickstarter campaign. Split layout, Arduino based logic board, open source firmware, hot swappable mechanical switches that are columns aligned, hardwood enclosure. Crazy stuff really. Now I only have to wait till January for my unit to arrive. Talk about delayed enjoyment…

To wrap things up, here is my stance on the language complexity based on keywords discussion. You don't have to use all the keywords. Actually quite often a lot of the keywords you hardly ever have to use. Some people for example totally dig writing property wrappers, I don't like doing that. Why would I add complexity to a codebase through adding a custom dialect through language constructs? I'd much rather write a few extra statements in a way that is much easier to understand for the person having to maintain the code. Whatever you do, write all code as if next month's new junior team member should be able to understand it with ease. Future you will be very glad you did, because you will very likely be the one reading and updating the code you are writing today.

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